KIRKUS REVIEW

In a yarn based on songs and tales
heard in Newfoundland and Labrador, a cocky young card shark takes on
Greensleeves, the tricksy “grand vizier of all magicians.”

Having held a pack of cards
practically since birth, Jack, known as “Jack o’ Hearts,” will play anyone—even
the green man made of grass and nettles, lily pads, and wax beans who comes
into the church hall one Twelfth Night. A win and a loss later, the green man
declares that the tiebreaker for Jack’s life will be played at
Greenchapel…wherever that might be. Left to find the way on his own, Jack
charms his way past encounters with surly giants and other obstacles. Reaching
the magician’s hideaway is only the start of Jack’s trials, as he finds himself
tasked with climbing a “glassen pole” and other seemingly impossible feats.
Luckily, Jack has an ally in Greensleeves’ youngest daughter, Ann (“dark skin,
with a hint of green, and black black hair”), who is a powerful magician
herself and furthermore willing to jump the broom with him if they can only
escape her father’s wrath. Jones tells the latest in his series of eastern
seaboard Jack tales with a confident lilt. Erdelji enhances its flow with
ingenuously drawn scenes within broadly brushed circular borders and a tongue-in-cheek
tone with marginal vignettes that resemble medieval graffiti.

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